Cambridge...33

Old Verulamians...7

AFTER a memorable victory the previous week at Wimbledonians, OVs slumped to a heavy defeat in the league at Cambridge.

Coach Minto will have been especially disappointed with his side's display as they actually scored first and promised much during the opening exchanges.

Despite near perfect playing conditions, neither side managed to play a truly expansive game in what was often a scrappy and error-ridden match.

In a rare moment of unpredictable three-quarter play, a neat inside pass from fly half Ollie Stokes to Carlo Romano cutting inside from his wing, led to a ruck ten metres from the Cambridge goal line.

The ball was spun wide to the left and flanker Andy Wakeling raced over to open the scoring. Simon French was successful with the conversion attempt to put Vees into a 7-0 lead.

Despite having the better of the scrummage, the Vees pack often looked sluggish and it was no surprise when Cambridge hit back with two converted tries to lead 14-7 ten minutes prior to the interval.

The killer blow from a Verulamian perspective came just before the break, when after a period of pressure from the visitors, Cambridge snatched a third score. With the home side's goal kicker in fine fettle, the conversion was slotted to leave Vees trailing 21-7 at half time.

At the break, Paul McCarthy replaced Ken Dunn, while Ally Clarke came on for Dave Evershed, although Clarke was later forced to leave the field through injury to be replaced by Paul Spyropolous.

Anton Skrypec replaced Pete Webb after ten minutes of the second period.

Two further scores from Cambridge (one converted) left Vees to contemplate a 33-7 defeat, before entertaining Welwyn at Cotlandswick on Saturday in the league.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.